Infants and other incontinent individuals wear wearable articles such as diapers to receive and contain urine and other body exudates. Pull-on wearable articles, or pant-type wearable articles, are those which are donned by inserting the wearer's legs into the leg openings and sliding the article up into position about the lower torso. Pant-type absorbent articles have become popular for use on children who are able to walk and often who are toilet training, as well as for younger children who become more active in movement such that application of taped-type absorbent articles tends to be more difficult.
Many pant-type wearable articles use elastic elements secured in an elastically contractible condition in the waist and/or leg openings. Typically, in order to insure full elastic fit about the leg and the waist such as is provided with durable undergarments, the leg openings and waist opening are encircled at least in part with elasticized elements positioned along the periphery of the respective opening.
Pant-type wearable articles having a main body to cover the crotch region of the wearer and a separate elastic belt defining the waist opening and leg opening are known in the art, such as described in PCT Publication WO 2006/17718A. Such pant-type wearable articles may be referred to as belt-type pants. On the other hand, certain pant-type wearable articles are configured such that the outer cover of the wearable main body completely covers the entirety of the garment-facing surface of the article. Such pant-type wearable articles may be referred to as uni-body pants. Belt-type pants, compared to uni-body pants, may be advantageous in that they may have better breathability by having less layers of material in certain areas of the articles, and that they may be manufactured economically. On the other hand, due to the structural difference between the main body and elastic belt, belt-type pants may be disadvantageous in providing printed artwork that provides an integral appearance.
Whether the belt-type or the uni-body type, there is a desire to provide coordinated and integrated graphics on both the main body and the belt of an absorbent article as absorbent articles having such coordinated and integrated graphics can provide more of an underwear-like look and feel, aiding in toilet training. Moreover, the more of an underwear-like look and feel that an absorbent article possesses, the more likely that a user will be willing to accept utilizing the product.
Likewise, for wearable articles intended for adults experiencing incontinence, an underwear-like appearance, as opposed to an overall white diaper-like appearance, may have a significant psychological influence on the adult and therefore be important in gaining the adult's acceptance in using the absorbent articles.
In currently available wearable articles, graphics are typically printed only on the main body of the article. The outer layer of the main body, a water impermeable film layer is typically utilized for providing graphics. There are some absorbent articles having printing on the belt. Printing graphics on a nonwoven material consisting of a belt increases production cost significantly as it requires special ink to avoid ink rub-off issue occurred in a user wearing condition.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a disposable absorbent article to provide an undergarment-like look and feel. There is also a need for providing such an absorbent article without compromise to the performance as an absorbent article, such as fit, wearability, comfort during wear, prevention of sagging, and prevention of leakage. There is further a need for providing such an absorbent article in an economical manner.